Telephone voice messaging system and method using off-hook immediate trigger

ABSTRACT

A system and method is described for entering a voice messaging system when a telephone set goes off-hook. If no voice message is waiting, a dial tone is provided to the telephone set. If a message is waiting, a prompt is activated by a telephone system indicating that such message is waiting, and the subscriber is then prompted to listen to the waiting message. If the subscriber does not wish to listen to the waiting message, he can place a conventional telephone call. If the subscriber chooses to listen to the waiting message (e.g., by entering “*” or saying “yes”), control is passed to the voice messaging system and the message is delivered to the subscriber.

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority and is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/506,021, filed Feb. 17, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No.6,721,415 incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates in general to telephone systems. Moreparticularly, the present invention relates to telephone systems thatoffer voice messaging services to their subscribers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Over the years, many types of telephone voice messaging systems havebeen developed. One general type of telephone voice messaging system isa remote system that records and stores voice messages from incomingtelephone calls after a specified number of rings go unanswered. Such aremote telephone voice messaging system stores telephone messages at asite remote from the subscriber and typically includes a centralswitchboard for intercepting telephone calls and storing messages. Thistype of remote telephone voice messaging system is often used with atypical public switched telephone system (“PSTN”).

In a typical remote telephone voice messaging system, a voice messagingsystem (“VMS”) of a telephone company automatically intercepts anytelephone calls intended for a local telephone number which are notanswered after a predetermined number of rings. Additionally, the VMSintercepts and stores messages intended for a local telephone numberthat is busy. The VMS then records and stores any received message. Thevoice messaging system usually communicates with central office switchesusing SMDI links and T-1 lines. Using the SMDI links, the voicemessaging system transmits message waiting indicator requests andmessage completion requests to the central office switch. A VMS isusually coupled with a service control point (“SCP”).

The telephone voice messaging system may alert a subscriber to thepresence of stored messages by changing the dial tone of thesubscriber's telephone set to a unique tone, such as a stutter dialtone. The central office switch sends a stutter dial tone to thesubscriber location when the subscriber location goes off-hook. Thestutter dial tone provides an audible indication that a voice message iswaiting. The subscriber recognizes the tone by picking up the receiverof the telephone set and listening. The subscriber then accesses themessages stored by the telephone company according to the prescribedprocedures for that telephone voice messaging system, such as dialing apredetermined access telephone number and entering a numeric access codeor personal identification number (PIN).

A subscriber location can then access the voice message system over itsestablished voice path and any waiting message can be transmitted by thevoice messaging system to the subscriber location. After the subscriberaccesses the voice messaging system, the voice messaging system sends acompletion request to the switch, instructing it to discontinue sendinga stutter dial tone and to now send a normal dial tone to the subscriberlocation when it goes off-hook.

One problem with current automated telephone voice messaging systems isthat it is time and labor intensive for a subscriber to call a remotelocation (e.g., the telephone company) and enter a PIN to access themessaging system. Moreover, the subscriber must remember the accesstelephone number and the PIN for the messaging system. If the subscriberforgets or does not know the access telephone number or PIN, he will beunable to retrieve any messages that have been stored.

For these reasons, it would be desirable to automatically connect thesubscriber to a stored message center when the telephone handset is“picked up” (i.e., the telephone goes off-hook), thereby minimizing thetime and manual effort required of the subscriber to access such aremote telephone voice messaging system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a system and method for entering avoice messaging system when a telephone set goes off-hook. If no voicemessage is waiting, a dial tone is provided to the telephone set. If amessage is waiting, a prompt is activated by a telephone systemindicating that such message is waiting, and the subscriber is thenprompted to listen to the waiting message. If the subscriber does notwish to listen to the waiting message, he can place a conventionaltelephone call. If the subscriber chooses to listen to the waitingmessage (e.g., by entering “*” or saying “yes”), control is passed tothe voice messaging system and the message is delivered to thesubscriber.

The foregoing and other aspects of the present invention will becomeapparent from the following detailed description of the invention whenconsidered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a simplified schematic diagram including a local telephoneset, a central office, a service control point, and a voice messagingsystem in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention;and

FIG. 2 shows a flow chart of an exemplary method of operation of thesystem of FIG. 1 in accordance with the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS AND BEST MODE

Referring now to the figures, a preferred embodiment of the system andmethod of the present invention will be described. For purposes of thisdescription, it is assumed that the reader is familiar with basictelephony concepts and terminology.

Referring to FIG. 1, a subscriber location 5 including a subscribertelephone set 10 is connected via a telephone line 15 (e.g., POTS, orsimilar) to a telephone system 20 including at least one central officeswitch 25 a, at least one service control point 30 (“SCP”), a remotevoice messaging system 35 (“VMS”), and a service node (“SN”) 40. Thisexemplary environment is a public switched telecommunication network(“PSTN”). A portion of the PSTN is illustrated in FIG. 1 and describedgenerally below.

In particular, the detailed portion of the PSTN illustrates a part ofthe Advanced Intelligent Network (“AIN”) of a typical local exchangecarrier. For brevity, only a basic explanation of the PSTN is providedherein. Where the PSTN operates or is composed differently in animportant aspect from that which would be understood by those skilled inthe art, additional details are provided herein. For further informationregarding the referenced PSTN and AIN aspects thereof, the interestedreader is referred to the patent to Weisser, U.S. Pat. No. 5,430,719,which is incorporated herein by reference.

The AIN includes a variety of interconnected network elements. A groupof such network elements includes the plurality of central offices 25 a,25 b which are service switching points (“SSPs”). A central office orSSP is a switch and the terms are used interchangeably herein. Asfurther illustrated in FIG. 1, the SSPs 25 a, 25 b have a plurality ofsubscriber lines 15 connected thereto. A subscriber line may also bereferred to as a calling line. Each SSP serves a designated group ofcalling lines, and thus, the SSP or switch that serves a particularcalling line may be referred to as its serving switch. Each calling lineis connected typically to a piece of terminating equipment including aplurality of telephones commonly designated as 5. Although telephonesare illustrated as the pieces of terminating equipment in FIG. 1, thoseskilled in the art will understand that such pieces include othertelecommunication devices such as facsimile machines, computers, modems,etc.

Pursuant to the preferred embodiment, each active calling line in an AINis assigned a ten digit calling line number. In the description of thepresent invention, the term “calling line number” is used in itsgenerally understood meaning to be the number which is dialed or inputby a caller or source to reach a piece of terminating equipment on acalling line associated with the dialed calling line number. A callingline number is commonly referred to as a telephone number or a directorynumber.

Referring again to FIG. 1, SSPs are interconnected by a plurality oftrunk circuits. These are the voice path trunks that interconnect theSSPs to connect communications. The term “communication” or “call” isused herein to include all messages that may be exchanged between callerand called party in the network illustrated in FIG. 1. Each of the SSPs25 a, 25 b is connected to another type of AIN element referred to as alocal signal transfer point (“STP”) 24 via respective data links 29.Currently, these are data links employing a signaling protocol referredto as Signaling System 7 (SS7), which is well known to those skilled inthe art. Much of the intelligence of the AIN resides in yet another typeof AIN element referred to as a local SCP 30 that is connected to STP 24over a SS7 data link. Among the functions performed by the SCP 30 is themaintenance of network databases and subscriber databases. Thesedatabases may be used in providing temporary telecommunication servicesto a customer. Typically, the SCP 30 is also the repository of servicepackage applications (“SPAs”) 45 that are used in connection with or aspart of the databases in the application of telecommunication servicesor enhanced features to calling lines.

In order to keep the processing of data and calls as simple as possible,a relatively small set of triggers is defined as the SSPs for each call.A trigger in the AIN is an event associated with a particular callingline that generates a packet to be sent to an SCP. The trigger causesthe SCP to query its database for processing instructions with respectto the particular call. The results of the database inquiry are sentback to the SSP in a response from the SCP 30 through STP 24. The returnpacket includes instructions to the switch as to how to process thecall. The instructions may be to take some special action as a result ofa customized calling service or enhanced feature. In response, theswitch moves through its call states, collects the called digits, andgenerates further packets that are used to set up and route the calls.Similar devices for routing calls among various local exchange carriersare provided by regional STP and regional SCP.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the AIN also includes a service circuit node40 (“SCN”), which may also be referred to herein as a service node. SN40 includes voice and dual tone multi-frequency (“DTMF”) signalrecognition devices and voice synthesis devices. In addition, SCN 40 mayinclude a data assembly interface. SN 40 is connected to the local SCP30 via data link using an X.25 protocol. In addition, SN 40 typically isconnected to one or more (but usually only a few) SSPs via IntegratedService Digital Network (“ISDN”) links as shown by the connection to SSPor central office switch 25 a.

In accordance with the present invention, an SPA 45 running on the SCP30 processes calls and is appropriately connected to the voice messagingsystem 35. The central office switch 25 a may be connected to aplurality of subscriber sets 10 or locations 5. Additionally, the SCP 30may provide routing instructions to a plurality of central offices 25 a.Connections 29 between the central office 25 a, the SCP 30, and thevoice messaging system 35 are preferably TCP/IP high speed networkconnections (e.g., fiber optic, ethernet, etc.).

The voice messaging system 35 permits the telephone system 20 to providea voice messaging service for each subscriber location 5. Subscriberlocations 5 which subscribe to the voice messaging service can havetheir unanswered telephone calls directed to the voice messaging system35 where they are recorded. Thus, in the situation where the telephoneset 10 rings and there is no answer after a number of rings, the remotevoice messaging system 35 may take a message. More particularly, thecentral office 25 a determines that the subscriber location 5 has notanswered and/or is on the phone, and thus routes the call to the voicemessaging system 35. The subscriber location 5 at a later time can thenlisten to these recorded messages by accessing the voice messagingsystem 35 when the subscriber goes off-hook at his telephone set 10. Thetelephone set 10 can be any conventional telephone set.

When the telephone set 10 goes off-hook, an Off-Hook Immediate AINtrigger fires on the central office 25 a, the central office 25 amessages the SCP 30, which in turn asks the voice messaging platform ifthe user has any messages waiting. If there is no message waiting, adial tone is provided to the subscriber in accordance with theconventional operation of a telephone set 10 and the system 20. If thereis a message waiting, an announcement is activated by the telephonesystem 20 stating that a message (or messages) is waiting, and then thesubscriber is prompted to listen to the waiting message or messages. Forexample, the prompt may state “You have messages waiting. Enter ‘*’ tolisten to your messages. Otherwise, dial the number you wish to call.”Alternatively, using voice recognition techniques, the subscriber can beprompted to say, for example, “yes” to listen to the stored message(s).Thus, the present invention replaces the conventional stutter dial toneor other indicators (e.g., visual indicators such as a lighted lamp)that is currently used with voice messaging systems to notify thesubscriber of received voice messages. Preferably, any calls or input tothe keypad, other than the key(s) used to listen to the messages (e.g.,“*”) will de-activate and override the announcement, and willimmediately be placed. This allows emergency calls, such as 911, to beimmediately placed.

If the subscriber does not wish to listen to the waiting message(s), hecan employ the telephone 10 to dial a telephone number to place aconventional telephone call. If the subscriber chooses to listen to thewaiting message(s) (e.g., by entering “*” or saying “yes”), control ispassed to the voice messaging system 35 and the subscriber will hear themessages. Thus, to access the messages, the subscriber does not need todial a telephone access number or enter a PIN. Accordingly, there is notelephone number or PIN to remember, and the subscriber is able toaccess his messages more quickly and in a less labor intensive manner.For added security however, the system can be adapted to require thesubscriber to enter a PIN in order to access the voice messaging system.In this manner, someone who merely picks up the subscriber telephone 10will not be given immediate access to any stored messages.

Preferably, the system is an AIN system that includes AIN functionality.Specifically, it is contemplated that an AIN Off-hook Immediate (“OHI”)trigger is put onto a subscriber's line. When the subscriber goesoff-hook, the trigger fires and directs that the SCP 30 send a query(using TCP/IP, for example) to the subscriber's voice messaging system35 to determine if the subscriber has any voice messages. If a messageis waiting, the voice messaging system 35 generates a return messagestating thus, which the SCP 30 receives. When the SCP 30 receives thereturn message, and if a voice recognition technique is being employed,the call is transferred to the service node 40 (for purposes of voicedetection), and the subscriber hears a prompt (e.g., “You have new voicemail messages. To hear them, say ‘Yes’; otherwise say ‘No’ or begindialing a number you would like to call now”.). Preferably, no prompt isissued if there are no messages waiting. Thus, a subscriber will nothear anything unless voice mail messages are waiting. As describedabove, the subscriber can dial a telephone number at any time to allowfor the immediate dialing of 911 or other emergency numbers.

Alternatively, if a voice recognition technique is not being employed,the subscriber could be prompted to press a key on the telephone 10,such as “*”, to hear his voice mail messages, and otherwise begindialing a number. In this way, the service node 40 would not be utilizedfor voice detection and the central office switch 25 a could do thedigit collection. This is a less complex and less expensiveimplementation of the present invention.

After the subscriber accesses the voice messaging system 35 and hearsthe message(s), the voice messaging system 35 sends a completion signalto the central office 25 a via SCP 30, instructing the central office 25a to discontinue the prompt and to now send a normal dial tone to thesubscriber location 5 when it goes off-hook.

FIG. 2 shows a flow chart of an exemplary method of operation of thesystem of FIG. 1 in accordance with the present invention. At step 100,a subscriber takes his telephone 10 off-hook. At step 110, in theembodiment in which the invention is implemented on an AIN system, anAIN trigger (e.g., Off-hook Immediate (OHI) trigger) fires on thecentral office switch 25 a. The central office switch 25 a sends a queryto the SCP 30, at step 120. The SCP 30 accepts the query and, at step130, sends control to an SPA 45 that processes the call as follows.

The SPA 45 determines whether new messages exist, and optionally, thenumber of new messages (or, alternatively, whether stored messages existand/or the number of stored messages, as described below), at step 140,by sending a message (e.g., a TCP/IP message) to the VMS 35 from whichthe subscriber is served. The VMS 35 replies to the SPA 45 running onthe SCP 30 with the presence of new voice messages (and optionally, thenumber of new voice messages, as described below), if any, that thesubscriber has in his voice mailbox.

If the reply to the SPA 45 from the VMS 35 is that the subscriber has nonew messages at step 150 (e.g., the number of new messages is notgreater than zero), then the SCP 30 directs the service node 40 toprovide a standard dial tone to the subscriber at step 160, and theroutine exits (i.e., conventional operation takes place in which thesubscriber hears a normal dial tone). If the VMS 35 reply to the SPA 45at step 150 is that the subscriber has new messages, then at step 170,the SCP 30 directs the service node 40 to prompt the caller with amessage stating that new messages have been received (e.g., “You havenew messages. To hear them, press *, otherwise please dial the numberyou wish to reach” or “You have new messages. To hear them, say “Yes”,otherwise please dial the number you wish to reach”) and optionally thenumber of new messages (e.g., “You have [X] new messages. To hear them,press *, otherwise please dial the number you wish to reach”, where X isthe actual number of new messages).

If the subscriber chooses to listen to the messages, at step 180 (e.g.,presses the * key, says “Yes” in an embodiment where voice recognitionis implemented, etc.), then control is passed to the VMS 35 to allow thesubscriber to hear any new messages at step 190. If the subscriber dialsanything else (or, in an embodiment where voice recognition isimplemented, the subscriber says “No” for example), the call isprocessed in a conventional manner (i.e., a dial tone is provided andthe subscriber can make a telephone call) and the routine exits.

In another embodiment in accordance with the present invention, theservice package application 45 determines whether stored messages exist,(and optionally, the number of stored messages), as opposed to newmessages, and advises the subscriber of the stored messages. In thisway, the subscriber can listen to his stored messages which may includehis new messages.

As mentioned above, it is contemplated that in addition to notifying thesubscriber that new messages have been received as soon as thesubscriber picks up the telephone, the present invention tells thesubscriber how many new messages have been received. Moreover, upon thetelephone going off-hook, other information about the messages can beprovided, such as the type of each message (voice mail, e-mailinitiated) and the calling line ID of the telephone set 10 that left themessage (i.e., the caller's identification), etc.

Although the present invention has been described with respect toproviding voice messages to a subscriber, it is contemplated and withinthe scope of the present invention that the present invention can beused to provide other types of non-voice message type information to thesubscriber when the telephone goes off-hook without altering theinvention herein described. For example, the telephone system 20 candeliver various content information such as weather and trafficimmediately to the telephone when the subscriber goes off-hook (e.g.,using the connection 29 (e.g., TCP/IP connection) to the service controlpoint 30 after an off-hook trigger (e.g., OHI trigger) fires). In thiscase, the subscriber can enter a key, such as “*”, to get a dial tone,or alternately, can dial any number to de-activate the informationdelivery and dial out. The information can be stored in the voicemessaging system 35 or any other storage means, such as a database orcomputer memory (not shown). The controller for directing theinformation delivery can reside in the central office 25 a, the servicecontrol point 30, or separately therefrom.

Moreover, the telephone system 20 can provide advertisements when thesubscriber picks up the telephone 10. For example, these advertisementscould be provided in exchange for a reduced telephone service fee (e.g.,a subscriber pays a reduced telephone service fee if he is willing tolisten to a predetermined number of advertisements). Targetedadvertising can be implemented based on a subscriber's demographics.

The invention may be embodied in the form of appropriate computersoftware, or in the form of appropriate hardware or a combination ofappropriate hardware and software without departing from the spirit andscope of the present invention. Further details regarding such hardwareand/or software should be apparent to the relevant general public.Accordingly, further descriptions of such hardware and/or softwareherein are not believed to be necessary.

Although illustrated and described herein with reference to certainspecific embodiments, the present invention is nevertheless not intendedto be limited to the details shown. Rather, various modifications may bemade in the details within the scope and range of equivalents of theclaims and without departing from the invention.

1. A method of providing information to a telephone subscriber location,comprising: storing the information in a storage device; detecting anoff-hook condition of the subscriber location; retrieving theinformation from the storage device responsive to the detected off-hookcondition; providing a TCP/IP message waiting signal when the subscriberlocation goes off-hook, the message waiting signal indicating that theinformation is for the subscriber location; and forwarding theinformation to the subscriber location when the subscriber location goesoff-hook.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein detecting theoff-hook condition comprises detecting an AIN trigger.
 3. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the information comprises at least one ofnews, weather, traffic data, and advertisements.
 4. The method accordingto claim 1, further comprising de-activating the information deliveryresponsive to receiving a predetermined input from the subscriberlocation.
 5. A computer-readable medium having computer-executableinstructions for performing a method of providing information to atelephone subscriber location, comprising: storing the information in astorage device; detecting an off-hook condition of the subscriberlocation; retrieving the information from the storage device responsiveto the detected off-hook condition; providing a TCP/IP message waitingsignal when the subscriber location goes off-hook, the message waitingsignal indicating that the information is for the subscriber location;and forwarding the information to the subscriber location when thesubscriber location goes off-hook.
 6. The computer-readable mediumaccording to claim 5, wherein detecting the off-hook condition comprisesdetecting an AIN trigger.
 7. The computer-readable medium according toclaim 5, wherein the information comprises at least one of news,weather, traffic data, and advertisements.
 8. The computer-readablemedium according to claim 5, further comprising computer-executableinstructions for de-activating the information delivery responsive toreceiving a predetermined input from the subscriber location.
 9. Amethod of receiving information at a telephone subscriber location,comprising: going off-hook at the subscriber location; receiving aTCP/IP message waiting signal at the subscriber location when thesubscriber location goes off-hook, the message waiting signal indicatingthat the information is for the subscriber location; and receiving theinformation at the subscriber location when the subscriber location goesoff-hook.
 10. The method according to claim 9, wherein receiving theTCP/IP message waiting signal comprises receiving the TCP/IP messagewaiting signal from a telephone system.
 11. The method according toclaim 9, wherein receiving the information at the subscriber locationwhen the subscriber location goes off-hook comprises receiving theinformation from a storage device associated with a telephone system.12. The method according to claim 9, wherein the information comprisesat least one of news, weather, traffic data, and advertisements.
 13. Themethod according to claim 9, further comprising providing apredetermined input from the subscriber location to a telephone systemto de-activate the information delivery.
 14. A computer-readable mediumhaving computer-executable instructions for performing a method ofreceiving information at a telephone subscriber location, comprising:going off-hook at the subscriber location; receiving a TCP/IP messagewaiting signal at the subscriber location when the subscriber locationgoes off-hook, the message waiting signal indicating that theinformation is for the subscriber location; and receiving theinformation at the subscriber location when the subscriber location goesoff-hook.
 15. The computer-readable medium according to claim 14,wherein receiving the TCP/IP message waiting signal comprises receivingthe TCP/IP message waiting signal from a telephone system.
 16. Thecomputer-readable medium according to claim 14, wherein receiving theinformation at the subscriber location when the subscriber location goesoff-hook comprises receiving the information from a storage deviceassociated with a telephone system.
 17. The computer-readable mediumaccording to claim 14, wherein the information comprises at least one ofnews, weather, traffic data, and advertisements.
 18. Thecomputer-readable medium according to claim 14, further comprisingcomputer-executable instructions for providing a predetermined inputfrom the subscriber location to a telephone system to de-activate theinformation delivery.